Speaking beyond the research, I truly feel that both mechanical and neurological changes occur in muscles as well as tendons with prolonged stretching. Just as with the sleeve of a shirt, depending on where your arm is in space, different parts of the shirt sleeve are more taught. I dont want readers to think static stretching is bad, and that we shouldnt do it. significant difference (p > .05). For many people in the gymnastics community, it comes down to a professional discussion on taking away overly aggressive flexibility methods, following the science of shoulder anatomy and making subtle changes in training. The science must be blended with expert coaching opinion and consistency in training. I will dive into this more below. Both skills allow the spine, shoulders and hips to bend while the body is in continual motion. Many people say how easy their jumps and skills feel after taking them off, but I think this is a short-lived neurological trick that may not have the best long term carry over. Doing a high volume of these movements may create ongoing stiffness in these areas, and as a result further contribute to the persistent loss of overhead mobility. That same drill may cause significant pain and limited motion in another gymnast who has very retroverted or less shallow hip joints. I agree that research is conflicting on the theoretical mechanisms and effects of soft tissue work, but it seems to be making some positive effect that supports its use. Labral tears may progress to requiring surgical repair and putting an athlete out of training for months or even career-ending. J Am Osteopath Association. Assisted hamstring stretch. I can often see an appreciable change in the range of motion within only a few sessions, pending that gymnasts are dedicated to the follow-up a home program. They explain that the short-term effects often seen from stretching must be supported by other qualities of athleticism. . It appears that a combination of mechanical factors (18, 25, 27-29), as well as neurological factors (18-21, 24, 25-26)), are reasons behind why regular stretching increases range of motion. These common active structures limiting overhead shoulder flexibility we want to focus on making more mobile. Shibata KR, Mastuda S, Safran MR. Is there a distinct pattern to the acetabular labrum andarticular cartilage damage in the non-dysplastic hip with instability? The Relation Between Stretching Typology and Stretching Duration: The Effects on Range of Motion. Attempting to apply one general stretching exercise that a naturally mobile gymnast showed in a presentation may cause some serious problems for such a gymnast. Half the group performed static stretches, while the other half performed Hold Relax stretching, a variety of PNF. I encourage people to dive into the research of background hip anatomy, as well as the current thoughts on hip injuries within the medical or strength fields. Gymnasts practice up to 30 hours a week and have regiments full of conditioning and exercises. This is typically why these gymnasts from a young age enjoy recreational gymnastics. J Strength Cond Res. Skills like Shaposh releases for female gymnasts, Tipelts for male gymnasts, and other extreme overhead motion demands require this amount of mobility. To protect the gymnasts in our care and to protect ourselves against possible allegations of poor practice, coaches must carefully consider their . 2015. The traditional model of gymnastics typically involves twenty to thirty-minute time periods where static stretches are held, active flexibility drills are done, or specific exercises are repeatedly done in high volume to gain range of motion. Before kicking this off, please keep in mind that I wrote an entire book chapter on gymnastics flexibility, which you can download and find for free here. Kalichman L1, Ben David C2. The search was conducted on PubMed, WOS, Scopus, Sport Discus and Google Scholar databases, and . Manske R., et al. Within the sport of gymnastics, a large majority of athletes who get involved have underlying natural hypermobility. We dont want just the heel elevated with a long lever arm creating lots of posterior knee joint and ligamentous strain. The most popular thought process is that we are affecting resting muscle tone, possibly increasing blood flow, perhaps changing the amount of water hydration level within the muscle or are offering a competitive neurological stimulus for muscle soreness. Harvey L, Herbert R, Crosbie J. They also tend to have excessively mobile hip capsules, similar to the shoulder. Subacromial Impingement. Ehmke, R. S. (2006). Enseki et al., Nonarthritic Hip Joint Pain: Clinical Practice Guidelines Linked to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health from Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. Oct; 19(4): 747 758. The thought process is that by following the anatomy of the shoulder joint and latissimus dorsi, teres major, and pec musculature 62-64, this version of an overhead flexibility drill biases stretching the soft tissue that needs attention and takes the pressure of the often already hypermobile shoulder ligaments. Knowing what I do now from all of the above research, I have mostly moved away from this approach of only using stretching to improve flexibility. Forcing a split down into extreme ranges of an oversplit without a proper assessment behind it, asking a gymnast to perform over splits when they are not even close to a split on flat ground, or blindly pushing someone down just to be tough, is most definitely dangerous. The on-going process of training will include the development of strength, co-ordination, spatial awareness and the core gymnastics movement skills which are the foundation upon which high level and good quality gymnastics are based. Its my opinion that the sport of gymnastics has yet to use a systematic, individualized, science-based system to flexibility methods in training. Jargon Note The medical world typically refers to Flexibility as the maximum range of motion a joint can passively reach, including the length of all structures from the joint level to the soft tissue and neural level. Wall ankle flexibility tests were used to measure the range of motion changes, and ultrasound imaging was used to look at the changes in the muscle tissue that relate to extensibility like passive resistive torque, muscle stiffness, tendon stiffness, fascicle length, and pentation angle. 10 Minute Gymnastics Flexibility Circuits, Download SHIFT's Free Gymnastics Pre-Hab Guide, I usually start any discussion that I have with coaches or gymnasts related to flexibility on some basic anatomy. I have seen what was thought to be a pulled hamstring end up being a pelvic growth plate stress fracture that required six months of time off and rehabilitation. The researchers proposed that the change in the range of motion may have primarily come from increased tolerance to the discomfort of nerve fibers that detect stretch pain, as the fibers were becoming more desensitized. Also, think how they apply to the gymnasts skill profile. Drill progressions for skills, strength and conditioning, managing fears, and dealing with pain or injury are among the most discussed. 2017 Apr;21(2):446-451. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2016.11.006. It will be much less explanation, and more just videos and examples on how to help. Those looking for more research related to ACL tear mechanisms can start by following this link here. For one, proper movement assessments are rarely done before these large flexibility sessions. You may remember the shoulder joint has a very shallow socket, which allows for lots of motion but then creates a situation where stability is needed. Although its purely anecdotal, I have consulted with cases where x rays show a very similar phenomenon in gymnasts doing oversplits while getting hip xrays. There has been a large spike in the rate of hip flexor strains, groin strains , and cranky shoulders that I feel is being very much swept under the rug in gymnastics. In its most basic form, stretching involves taking a muscle to its end range of motion, and holding the elongated state for a period of time. This would suggest that with significant immobilization or time spent in prolonged tension, sarcomeregensis may occur within the muscles. There is typically much less seen where gymnasts elbows are being stretched into hyper extension, but that also should be avoided. This is commonly tested with something called a Beightons screening. These cases are much less frequent in gymnastics but do exist. Foam rolling as a recovery tool after an intense bout of physical activity. Eccentric pull up lowers or EZ Mover Sliders, Gymnastics skill technique drills to use the new range of motion Many gymnasts with stiff hips could benefit from a bit less squatting and jumping, and repace those exercises with glute and hamstring work. These structures and systems tend to have much more potential to change through training. It by no means is the perfect solution, but when based on a movement assessment and used with other strategies, self-myofascial release can be very beneficial. I feel extreme passive stretching like these movements really serve little help in the process of safely getting shoulder flexibility. These issues are commonly overlooked as culprits to why a gymnast struggles in this area of gymnastics. They found that to achieve this full straddle split position; there was evidence of micro subluxation in the hip joints. Some studies have correlated a higher Beightons score with increased capsular laxity, including this research study linking a Beighton score over 4 to hip capsular laxity (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5400218/) and this study that discusses the links between shoulder capsular laxity and a high Beightons score (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4295707/). Self-soft tissue work refers to using foam rollers, lacrosse balls, tennis balls, or other implements to help massage different muscular areas of the body. If someone is continuing to struggle with hip mobility, rather than just pushing more take a step back and consider this concept. Plan Current Concepts In Shoulder Examination of The Overhead Athlete. Many gymnasts may be limited by their bony alignment, differently shaped hips, or less mobile capsule/ ligaments. This will help them continue to get the strength training effect but wont continue to perpetuate their overhead mobility issue. They accurately outline that areas like muscular strength and joint control must be trained in parallel with stretching. (46-48). All of the studies that did show a change in range of motion from various techniques (static stretching, PNF type, more dynamic stretching) did not push the subjects into very extreme pain or use excessively long periods of stretching past 2 minutes. Weppler CH, Magnusson SP. Helpful or Not? Doing slider crawls are a great core training replacement to reduce some of the leg lifts that may be creating ongoing headaches with limited split flexibility. Elastic band openers, shoulder circles to mat laying on stomach, PNF techniques Int J Sports Med. An alternative version based on anatomy would be to flatten the spine position as well as the pelvis, and then perform a similar stretch with core/glute engagement. I believe addressing this common imbalance in strength volume is a key contributing factor for seeing long-term shoulder flexibility gains and reducing overuse injuries related to the shoulder joint. Why Do So Many Gymnasts Struggle Even When They Stretch Daily? But, the timiing protocols for these studies were insanely more than and human does, so its likely not the main case for increases in muscle length. Wilk KE, Macrina LC, Reinold MM. Place your hands beside your hips on either side. 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